Best Software for Agencies Under 10 People: Best Value Tools for CRM, Projects and Client Work

ClickUp 85/100 · EXCELLENT BEST VALUE PM

ClickUp tries to be the one app an agency runs its delivery on, and on value it largely succeeds. Tasks, docs, goals, whiteboards and native time tracking all live in one place, so the path from a brief to tracked, billable work never leaves the tool. For a price-conscious agency, that consolidation is the whole pitch.

Toggl Track 84/100 · EXCELLENT BEST TIME TRACKING

Toggl Track wins time tracking by getting out of the way. Starting a timer is one click, the apps are everywhere your team works, and the reports turn tracked hours into clean answers about where time actually goes. The reason it works is adoption: a timer nobody resents is a timer people actually use, and that is most of the battle for an agency trying to bill accurately.

GoHighLevel 91/100 · EXCEPTIONAL EDITOR'S CHOICE

GoHighLevel is the closest thing the agency world has to an operating system. It bundles a CRM, email and SMS marketing, landing pages and funnels, calendars, pipelines and a deep automation builder into one account — and then lets you slap your own logo on it and sell it to clients as software. For agencies whose business is running marketing for other businesses, that combination is hard to beat.

Teamwork 83/100 · EXCELLENT BEST FOR CLIENT WORK

Teamwork is the rare project tool designed around the agency model rather than adapted to it. Billable time, client-facing users, retainers and budget burn are first-class features, not bolt-ons, so the gap between "work done" and "work invoiced" is much smaller than in general-purpose tools. If your business is selling time to clients, that focus pays off quickly.

Pipedrive 83/100 · EXCELLENT BEST SALES CRM

Pipedrive does one job and does it cleanly: it manages your sales pipeline. For an agency, that usually means new business — tracking prospects from first call to signed retainer. The whole product is built around a visual, drag-the-deal pipeline that is simple enough that your business development lead will actually keep it current, which is the only thing that makes any CRM useful.

Harvest 82/100 · EXCELLENT BEST TIME + INVOICING

Harvest closes the loop that Toggl leaves open: it tracks time and then invoices from it, in the same tool. For an agency that bills by the hour, that means a team member logs work against a client, and at month end you turn those hours straight into an invoice — no export, no re-keying, no reconciliation between two systems. That single workflow is the reason to choose it.

ActiveCampaign 85/100 · EXCELLENT BEST EMAIL AUTOMATION

ActiveCampaign is where email gets serious. The automation builder is the best in this set — branching logic, conditional waits, behavioural triggers and segmentation deep enough to run genuinely sophisticated client campaigns. For an agency whose value is in clever lifecycle and nurture sequences, it gives you room the simpler tools do not.

Close 80/100 · VERY GOOD

Close is a sales CRM built for teams that live on the phone and in the inbox. Calling, emailing and SMS happen inside the tool, so a rep can work a list of prospects without bouncing between apps. For an agency running real outbound to win new clients, that tight loop makes a measurable difference to how many touches actually get made.